Meetings are an essential part of collaboration. While some people like to lament that meetings waste time and hurt productivity, we find that thoughtfully-scheduled and well-run meetings can help us produce better work.

While face-to-face meetings are always preferable for the best communication, virtual meetings can often be a great alternative when travel and geographic factors make it difficult to get everyone in the same room. It also allows us to do business with people in other parts of the country without the time and cost of travel. The screen sharing feature allows us to collaborate with clients on site maps, wireframes, website design comps, marketing reports, and more.

Not everyone, however, is comfortable with virtual meetings. Those who are used to face-to-face meetings can often feel out of place and awkward when invited to a virtual meeting. With a little bit of practice and background knowledge, anyone can become a virtual meeting pro. So here is a complete guide to overcoming your awkwardness and becoming a virtual meeting expert.

Did you know that March 6 is Employee Appreciation Day in the U.S.? There are lots of ways to show appreciation for your team and there's nothing wrong with gifts or bonuses or meals at Fogo.

However, holidays like this always get me thinking about the deeper, long-term ways we show appreciation to team members. Our culture at SpinWeb is the primary reason that we have such a high retention rate and a long list of friends of the company that want to work with us. Though I'm far from perfect, I do make it a priority to not just sporadically offer gifts and tokens of appreciation, but rather to commit to a fundamental philosophy of appreciation that is core to our culture.

So what are some of the ways that you can show appreciation to your team year-round? These are some pages from my playbook and I hope they can help you, too.